The present invention concerns holders and dispensers for disposable paper or plastic flexible plates, bowls, or other similar disposable dishware items. Flexible dish holders and dispensers in accordance with the present invention are particularly suitable for home, i.e. residential consumer use.
A holder and dispenser of flexible dishes, serving bowls, and the like should meet several requirements. The holder and dispenser should be simple and foolproof to load. It should reliably dispense selected quantities of disposable dishes, even when operated by children. The dishes should be maintained in sanitary conditions during storage and during dispensing. It is preferable that the holder and dispenser should be washable and hold and dispense the flexible dishes without inducing any permanent deformation of such dishes.
It is preferred that a flexible dish holder and dispenser should be durable, and simple in construction, and inexpensive in cost. It should be practical of being situated within a residential kitchen, and should be aesthetically appealing in such environment. It should be readily installable by the residential user and be maintenance free.
Certain holders and dispensers of both flexible and non-flexible plates and dishes exist within the prior art. These holders and dispensers are generally directed to the restaurant and food service trade and are typically large, expensive and cumbersome. U.S. Pat. No. 2,358,709 for CONTAINER to Hayn shows a substantially cylindrical container having a slot in its side. A finger may be inserted through this slot for withdrawing an article of dishware. The container also has a top which is also provided with a slot extending inwardly from its edge. The top may be placed so as to form a continuation of the slot in the container to further facilitate withdrawal of articles from the container without removing the top therefrom.
Additionally pertinent to the present invention is U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,698 for PLATE HOLDER AND DISPENSER issued to Colgan. A paper plate dispenser shown by Colgan houses a stack of plates and is provided with specially formed openings in its bottom wall and sidewalls to enable one or more of the plates to be removed. The stack of plates is supported, in a bottom-down configuration, by a central portion of a bottom wall which is defined in part by an arcuate cut-out portion and which supports the stack of plates at their center. The arcuate cut-out portion exposes a significant marginal portion of the lowermost plate or bowl in the stack. Furthermore, the sidewall is provided with a slot in communication with the arcuate cut-out to facilitate manual gripping of the edges of a number of plates desired to be removed. The interior of the housing includes a plurality of brush-like retainers which engage selected regions of the stacked plates in an attempt to insure that remaining plates in the stack are not inadvertently drawn out of the housing together with those plates which are intentionally removed. The plate holder and dispenser may be mounted in either a vertical or horizontal orientation, including in a horizontal orientation suspended beneath a cabinet. In this underslung mounting a top cover is securely fastened to the underside of the cabinet while a bottom cylindrical section may be selectively attached to this cover in order to allow the dispenser to be loaded and reloaded. The cylindrical bottom section attaches to its top cover by vertically-extending fasteners upon an upper flange of the cylinder. These fasteners extend into corresponding complementary keyhole apertures within a corresponding horizontally-extending flange of the cover.
The particular prior art plate holder and dispenser taught within U.S. Pat. No. 3,930,698 employs an extensive number of elements in support of its storage and dispensing functions. Particularly, because the plates or bowls contained within the dispenser are supported by a central hub portion formed integrally with the bottom wall of the device (which bottom wall plate additionally includes an arcuate opening extending for more than a 180 degree arc), the selective retention of plates and the like within the dispenser is complex. Particularly, the retention is aided by brush-like retainers which engage selected regions of the stacked plates. These retainers are complex and expensive, subject to variation during manufacture and use, and collect contamination. Consequently, it is desired that a more effective plate holder and dispenser should be provided which is simple and reliable for performing the retention and selective dispensing function and would does require numerous structural element operation.